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Laika (company)
Laika Entertainment, LLC. is an American stop-motion animation studio specializing in feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos and short films. It is best known for it's stop motion feature films, Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls as well as Kubo and the Two Strings. The studio is owned by Focus Features and is located in Oregon's Portland metropolitan area. Phil Knight's son, Travis acts as its president and CEO. The company had two divisions, Laika Entertainment for feature films and House Special Formally Laika/house for commercial content. Laika spun off the commercial division in July 2014 to focus on feature film production exclusively. The new independent commercial division is now called HouseSpecial. History In the late 1990s, Will Vinton Studios, known for its stop motion films and commercials, sought funds for more feature-length films and bought in outside investors, which included Nike, Inc. owner Phil Knight. In 1998, Knight made his initial investment and son Travis started work at the studio as an animator. In 2002, Phil Knight acquired financially struggling Will Vinton Studios to pursue feature-length productions. The following year, Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, joined the studio as a supervising director. In July 2005, the successor to Will Vinton Studios, Laika, was founded and opened two divisions: Laika Entertainment for feature films and Laika/house for commercial work, such as advertisements and music videos. In that month, there was a lunch in Portland the crew discussed films like Coraline and CGI animated film Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure. The studio laid off a significant portion of its staff in 2008, when its third planned feature Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure was cancelled. The following year, the studio became a subsidary of Focus Features. Its second feature film, Coraline was released on February. It received a nomination for the Acamedy Award for Best Amimated Feature. After directing Moongirl and Coraline, and unsuccessfully renegotiating his contract, Selick left Laika in 2009. By the end of the year, the studio laid off more staff in its computer animation department to focus exclusively on stop-motion. Their third stop-motion feature film, ParaNorman, opened August 17, 2012 and also received a nomination for the Acamedy Award for Best Animated Feature. After working on stop-motion commercials for clients such as Apple, Inc., Fox Sports, ESPN and Coca-Cola, Laika spun off its advertising portion in July 2014, to focus on feature film production exclusively. The new independent commercial division is now called House Special. Their fourth film, The Boxtrolls was released on September 26, 2014 and was based on Alan Snow's fantasy-adventure novel, Here Be Monsters!. It was directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable and also received an Acamedy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. Laika has also optioned Colin Meloy's fantasy novel Wildwood and Phillip Reeve's fantasy book Goblins, as upcoming feature film adaptions. In March 2015, the company announced it would expand the studio in an effort to allow for production of one film per year. Filmography Feature films Released films Films in development Short films Contract work See also * List of companies based in Oregon Category:Stop motion studios